The development of societies around the world is influenced by dynamics of social power.
From a perspective of gender, patriarchal relationships often shape development by
influencing differential access to resources, including space and mobility. Mexico, historically
characterized by both patriarchy and endemic poverty, has been home to a wide range of
development strategies addressing gendered inequality. Most recently, microfinance
programs have become an instrument of choice for confronting female marginalization and
gender inequality.
The scientific literature reveals important gaps in the study of gendered relationships in
households which benefit from microfinance. Several studies address the impact of
microfinance on the lives of women, but few offer a holistic vision that views microfinance as
a tool of development promising to shift the spatial nature of gendered inequality. This
research is based on qualitative comparative case studies of microfinance groups in San
Miguel Tenextatiloyan and Émilio Carranza, two communities of the Sierra Norte de Puebla
(Mexico). Its primary objective is to evaluate the degree to which microfinance programs
have changed the place of the women in society. To answer this issue, a portrait of the spatial
organization of gender is presented, and then the impacts of microfinance programs on the
place of women in domestic, work and community spaces is assessed.
The results of the study indicate that microfinance programs have not changed substantially
the place of women in society. Rather the research finds that, in a context of poverty,
microfinance stabilizes households, but does not lead to a clear amelioration of the material
circumstances of women’s lives. Secondly, the findings demonstrate that the tasks associated
with social reproduction – largely assumed by women – provide a structural barrier to female
empowerment that microfinance alone cannot fully confront.
Keywords: Gender geography, power relations, development, microfinance, spatiality,
neoliberalism, Mexico.